Adventures in food and photography

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Category Archives: Drinks

I’m still editing shots from my trip to Galicia last week so here’s a cucumber rickey cocktail that I made after seeing it on my Instagram feed a few weeks ago. I was under prepared and didn’t have any crushed ice but it still tasted great. I’m a relatively new convert to gin and do find myself craving one on a warm evening nowadays. I was a little apprehensive of this gingery twist but it worked very nicely.

Happy new year! Hope 2016 has been kind to everyone so far. Last week my friend Michael asked on Facebook what he should do with lemon and ginger to help his man flu so thought this hot honey, lemon and ginger recipe might be useful for others too during the winter months. I store the infusion in a jar in the fridge for up to a week.

I had plans to reshoot this as a winter cocktail but wanted to wish everyone a happy new year so at the 11th hour I bring you a rosemary gimlet. I saw this recipe on the wonderful David Lebovitz’s blog a month or so ago and knew I had to give it a go. Rushing ahead of the Christmas period my rosemary died unused, so I hastily repurchased and shot it yesterday.

I’m hoping to get back on track with things in the new year as 2 surgeries and a possible broken arm that was not cast has hindered my photography terribly. Wishing you health and happiness in 2016!

On Friday night I was lucky enough to win tickets to Havana Club’s ‘Nothing Compares to Havana’ rum tasting evening at Kettners in Soho where we learnt about the history of rum, made mojitos in a cocktail making workshop and sipped aged single barrel rum paired with Cuban chocolate. Sadly, I didn’t have my camera with me and to be honest by the end of the evening there was no hope of controlling manual DSLR settings!

It dawned on me on my way home that these were the first really good bar made mojitos since my trip to Cuba back in 2011. Following that trip, I become a massive fan of Havana Club rums and a mojito snob. I rarely order them in London now as they usually taste sour or too much like washing up liquid and I ineviatably end up sending them back, preferring to make them myself at home. Most bars serve them with crushed ice which dilutes the flavour too much so be sure to use ice cubes as they do in Cuba. Sparkling water is also more authentic than soda but either is fine.

I’m sure you have already noticed my ‘make everything mojito favoured’ obsession in my previous posts for mojito ice cream and cupcakes so thought it was about time I shared the recipe for the correct way to make my favourite, and the most popular cocktail in the world.

Both of my holidays this year have heavily featured iced tea and the current UK heatwave has inspired me to make my own as the shop bought ones are so sugar laden. This is a cold brew method which just needs steeping in the fridge overnight or during the day while you are at work. I try to enjoy decaffinated tea where possible and this also works well with decaf teabags.